[theapportioner]

I think that any proper definition of happiness must account for a person's past and present interaction with his or her environment. After all external phenomena do influence our mood. That being said (and this recalls earlier discussions we've had), it appears to me that the happier one's mood is, the more one associates things in the environment as happy things. Likewise when one is depressed, one tends to be more self-loathing and loathing of other people etc. Ergo what does it mean to say "this or that makes me happy", and should it rather be "I am happy, therefore I like this or that"? And are dramatic, life changing events such as meeting the significant other of your dreams, or having some dancer rub her boobs in your face, somehow the exceptions?

Now, if that child were to lose it all, suffer hardship and pain, and then reclaim it all, yes, the child would appreciate it's lifestyle more

I recently read an article saying that actually, one's emotional state doesn't change much, even after a life changing event such as a horrible accident. Of course this depends on the imaging techniques used as well as the definition of 'emotional state'.